South Carolina GOP: Mark Sanford must go

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Much of South Carolina's Republican establishment is seeking Mark Sanford's resignation.
AP Photo

Sanford has shown no signs that he is willing to step down.

“The governor has given a full and truthful account, and he is finished discussing this matter,” said Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer. “He is focused on being governor, on rebuilding his marriage and on building back the trust of South Carolinians.”

“This thing is real fluid,” said Katon Dawson, an influential former state party chairman who has not called on Sanford to resign. “The facts are that the governor of South Carolina does not have to resign today and does not have to resign tomorrow. Those are the facts, and I deal in facts.”

But many state Republicans have their doubts that Sanford’s focus really is on South Carolina.

“His physical presence may be in South Carolina, but I think his mind is in Argentina,” Grooms said.

One top South Carolina political insider said the unusually personal details of the interview have been “very harmful” to the governor.

“The last thing you need to do is say you’re going to come clean and then not come clean. It’s this extraction of information every day that is causing this erosion of trust,” the insider said. “You would think that at the press conference that he would have vaguely confessed to unfaithfulness and said, ‘The rest is between my wife and I’ and then walked away.”

“It seems like he is coming unhinged,” the longtime South Carolina pol added. “He needs to really go take a hike this time.”

Numerous South Carolina Republicans were so taken aback by the governor’s remarks Tuesday that they speculated about Sanford’s mental health after watching his life and political career unravel in short order.

“I think it’s obvious that he needs some help,” said GOP state Sen. Larry Martin. “He needs to quit talking to reporters and go get some professional help.”

Martin said the interview may have been “geared to pre-empting some other information that might come out” but turned into a disaster for Sanford.

“I think he was trying to do some damage control and it just got out of hand,” he said. “I can’t imagine his staff would have ever agreed to him doing that if they didn’t think there was some upside to it.”

Martin added: “I’m just sad for him.”

Peeler also said the interview left him personally concerned about the governor.

“Those were the ramblings of a troubled man,” he said. “I’m not a lawyer. I’m not a doctor. But I know when I see it. That man needs help.”

Asked about the press conference, Inglis said Sanford’s “close aides don’t need all those details and the state certainly doesn’t need all those details,” adding that any media handlers would “be telling him ‘you don’t need to tell them all that.’”

The GOP congressman said he was not particularly disturbed by Sanford’s comments to The Associated Press because “Mark tries to not be affected by being governor. So it’s his usual nonaffected behavior that is getting him in this case. "

Inglis said he believes that because of the scandal, Sanford could have his best 18 months as governor if he chose to stay in office.

Sanford’s tenure could now be more effective, the congressman said, because of “the humility that can come out of this humiliation.”

But after watching the avalanche of statements on Wednesday calling for the governor’s resignation, GOP state Rep. Lanny Littlejohn estimated that Sanford will likely only be able to hang on to his seat for another week, an outcome he would not have believed only a few days ago.

“I can’t believe all this is happening. It’s like a dream. It’s unreal,” he said. “It’s just gotta be the shock of the year that things are playing out the way they are."

Sanford railed against Bill Clinton for "breaking his oath" and lying about it and voted to impeach him for it. Then Sanford broke his oath to his wife and to the people of South Carolina. But he refuses to do what he told Clinton to do.

I thought this day would prompted me to do a victory dance, witnessing Republicans brought to there knees like they have. It’s actually kind of sad, that the once juggernaut party under one giant tent has shrunken down to fraction of its formal self.

I, for one, believe he should stay were he is. I love a sitting Repugnant govenor generating this much negative attention. Please stay, keep the focus on the lack of GOP integrity while preaching family values to the rest of us.